I know I’ve been talking a lot about poop on here lately, but let me take that subject on a different tangent and talk a little about cloth diapering a toddler.

Let me just say that last year we went through some rough patches. It all started around watermelon season near his 1st birthday. The kid LOVES watermelon as much as he loves oranges. It’s wonderful that they alternate being in season. Both, unfortunately, can give him a bad rash- the watermelon more than the oranges. He developed a TERRIBLE, bleeding rash around his birthday that we had to get a special, compounded prescription diaper cream to clear up. I’d always been careful about what diaper creams I used with his diapers (only Aveeno and Burts Bees up to that point) because I knew they could cause build up on the diapers. Of course, I had no choice with the prescription. Soon his diapers began leaking and repelling.

I stripped with Dawn (LOLOLOLOL I crack myself up every time I type that), but looking back I don’t think I did it right the first time around. I didn’t get the water hot enough, and I didn’t do enough rinse cycles. And even after I successfully stripped them of the built up residue from the cream, we were still having leaking issues. It was extremely frustrating. We did a lot of traveling during the last half of the year and used disposables for that. We found ourselves using them at home more and more because they were just more reliable than his cloth diapers.

I’m sort of embarrassed to tell you all what finally fixed the issue for us, but really, since when have I ever protected my pride on this blog? A Twitter friend asked if I was sure we were getting the diaper in the crease of his legs and butt cheek, like really making sure we were fitting him snugly there. Yeah, turns out we weren’t. Ever since we’ve started taking the time to really make sure they are snugly sitting right in the crease of his legs, we’ve cut leaking down to almost non-existent. So there you go.

Another issue we’ve run into is that most of his diapers have Velcro closures. He’s smart, he’s strong, he’s dexterous, he rips those bad boys off whenever he thinks of it. You’re all aware of this because I’ve told you the stories of the runaway turdlets.

So when my friend Rhea at SunshineDiapers.com (the one with the kickass Kissaluvs rental program for newborns) offered to send me a Flip Diaper and some inserts (including disposable inserts) to try out, I jumped at the opportunity for several reasons. First, they are made by the same people who make Bum Genius diapers, which, despite the issues we’ve had in the past (mainly user generated), are our favorite cloth diapers and make up 90% of our stash. Flip diapers, unlike Bum Genius 3.0 pockets, have a snap closure instead of Velcro, making it a little more difficult for toddlers to undo them themselves. They also have the option of using a disposable insert, which would be perfect for travel or for the times we have to use prescription diaper cream for inevitable fruit induced butt rashes.

I received one cover, a pack of disposable inserts, an organic insert and a Stay-Dry insert. We’ve kept these in heavy rotation over the last couple weeks, and I’m happy to report that I really, truly do love them. Honestly, I didn’t know if I would, but they definitely surpassed my expectations. Even Scott is on board with them.

Okay, so let me see if I can explain how this diaper works. It’s basically a cover, with a little bit of a panel inside the front and back of the diaper. You lay the insert in the diaper and tuck it under each panel, then fasten just like you would any other diaper. It’s like a hybrid between a pocket diaper and a fitted diaper with a cover. The idea is when the insert is wet/dirty, you just need to remove that and replace with another insert, while reusing the same cover.

This seemed to work with all three inserts most of the time, unless the poop was loose or runny. I found of the three inserts the organic did the best job of keeping the poop contained and off of the cover since it’s the widest. The disposable was the worst performing when it came to this because it’s pretty narrow (I’d say it managed to keep the poop contained about 50% of the time). However, I read on Flip’s Facebook Fan Page that they will soon be offering disposable inserts that are wider and longer (read more here).

I still feel like the disposable inserts, even if I have to replace the cover more often, are an awesome option for us, especially when it comes to traveling (or for those of you looking for a “middle ground” between cloth and disposables full time). The cost of Nature Babycare disposables (which are comparable to Flip inserts in terms of being free from nasty chemicals and biodegradable) from Amazon.com, in bulk shipments work out to be about .37 a diaper, and at $4.95 for a pack of 18 inserts for the Flip, you’re only paying .27 an insert. Sure, there’s the cost of the cover, but ideally, even if the poop gets on the cover half the time, you should be able to get through with 3 or 4 (if you are planning to use them full time), in my opinion, and that’s a one time purchase.

As far as absorbency of pee goes, I was happy with all three inserts. I used all three during naps with no problem, and at night I used the organic wrapped around one of my hemp doublers. It worked like a charm. In fact, that’s what Kendall wore to bed last night. Here’s a picture of him shooting some hoops before bed with his extra fluffy butt.

I will say that I’m on the fence as to whether the snap closure is a pro or a con. Originally, I thought it would be much better than the Velcro that is so easy for Kendall to undo himself, but it turns out it’s harder to get the diaper fastened while struggling with a kicking, squirming, screaming toddler. That’s really one of the great cloth diaper debates, though, and certainly not exclusive to this brand of diapers. Velcro versus snaps seems to be more of a personal preference.

I will also add that these covers, just like the Bum Genius 3.0 pockets, are made to grow with a baby. They claim to fit from 7 to 35 lbs, though I’m not sure how they would work on a newborn. I think the inserts would be too bulky, although the disposable inserts might actually fit nicely. I, of course, do not speak from experience on this.

Finally, another perk of this system is the decrease in cloth diaper laundry since you are just washing inserts. I love that you don’t have to pre-stuff like pockets, and it also takes up a lot less room in the diaper bag to just toss a few inserts in versus a few stuffed pocket diapers, or even fitteds.

Overall, a glowing review from us, and I genuinely think this system could be a great way to dip your toe in the pool of cloth diapering if you’re thinking about giving it a shot.

So now on to the fun part- the giveaway! Rhea is giving one Flip cover, two cloth inserts and a pack of disposable inserts to one lucky winner. She’s also created a 10% off coupon code just for my readers for whatever you’d like to order from SunshineDiapers.com. Just enter “BABYRABIES” when you check out.

Here’s how to enter:

(Note- there are several ways, and I need you to leave me separate comments FOR EACH thing you do, please.)

1. Comment telling me why you do or why you don’t currently use cloth diapers

2. Become a fan of Sunshine Diapers on Facebook

3. Tweet the following – “I just entered to win a Flip Diaper pack from @SunshineDiapers on @BabyRabies”

4. Follow @SunshineDiapers on Twitter

5. Follow @BabyRabies on Twitter

6. Become a fan of Baby Rabies on Facebook

You don’t have to do all those things, but each one earns you an additional chance to win (as long as you leave separate comments!).

I’ll draw the winner with Random.org toward the end of the day on Friday, February 5th.

A big thanks to Rhea and Sunshine Diapers for sponsoring this review and giveaway!

Kendall is almost 21 months old, that’s 21 months of cloth diapering so far.

Contest is closed. Congrats to commenter #199, Adrienne!

Sad thing is I’d seen these signs before. Hell, I’d even seen the booths set up outside before as I quickly walked past to get to Carters for their awesome sale on PJs. I never once put 2 and 2 together to figure out that this was EXACTLY the place we needed to be shopping. I never realized that I could get grass fed, locally grown, responsibly raised meat and eggs here.  In fact, before we drove past the mall I was telling Scott that we needed to plan a trip out to a nearby farm this weekend to talk to them and try out some of their meat. Ha! Turns out we were able to do just that without the 1.5 hour round trip drive, just by swinging by the Four Seasons Market.

Granted, it didn’t have a huge selection. There wasn’t much produce to speak of, but, as advertised, there was local cheese and yogurt and bread. Better still, there were two farms represented, selling grass fed meat and eggs. We had a nice long chat with the couple who runs Sloans Creek Farm about how much we miss living in Virginia and how awesome Joel Salatin (of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Inc. fame) is. They told us he’d be speaking at Plano’s Live Green Expo in April, which thrilled us like they’d just told us Joel McHale was coming to town. They even invited us out to their farm for a celebration they happen to be throwing this year on Kendall’s second birthday. I think we just might take them up on it.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any chicken or eggs, so we headed to the other booth occupied by a local farm, Truth Hill Farm. Turns out we arrived too late in the day to pick up any eggs from them, too, but we were able to snag the last whole chicken they had in the freezer. I was so excited I asked the kind man to pose for a picture. I blabbed something about my “parenting blog” and how our “life is changing” and “you know, Food Inc?”, and I’m positive it all sounded Greek to him, but he kindly obliged my request.

With that major purchase out of the way, I headed to the Lucky Layla Farm booth to pick up some cheese and drinkable yogurt for Kendall. (I gave him some of that today, and he liked it so much he chewed the nipple off his sippy cup to suck every last drop out of there. Perhaps I should look into a straw next time.) The man, wearing a very broken in OU hat, was the picture of jolly, and more than happy to answer the string of questions I had about how and where his products were produced.

I was tempted to pick up some yummy smelling spices from Kurry King, but considering I don’t know what the heck to do with them, I figured my money was better spent on some basic food for now. So I spent the last bit of my $40 on two loaves of bread, a whole wheat loaf from the charming family that runs Rosey Ridge Farm, and another rustic white loaf from a young, nice girl who bakes all the bread for her WeMe Bread micro-bakery in East Dallas on her own.

Notice how I can tell you a little bit about each of the producers I purchased from? How simply amazing is that?I have never come home from the grocery store with a bag full of food and a head full of stories all about where and how that food was produced. I’ve never been able to put a face to the name on the label of my bread. I’ve never been able to visualize the actual farm my chicken was raised on. Simply amazing, and yet amazingly simple. Farmer raises meat, brings meat to market, you meet farmer, farmer tells you about his farm.

Okay, I will admit that I didn’t bring home as much “food” for my $40 as I would with a trip to a traditional grocery store, but that’s only if you consider “food” to be anything edible. What I did do was bring home what I believe to be a bag full of nothing but REAL food, no fillers, no junk, which is incredibly hard to find at a grocery store.

Here’s a picture of my “haul” (I laugh as I type that because my friend Michelle just introduced me to these “haul” videos on YouTube, and I am COMPLETELY CONFUSED by them. These people are going on and on about their Walmart and drugstore purchase for some reason I’ve yet to figure out, and NONE of them can read a receipt. For a lobotomy, click here and see what I mean.)

Breakdown of cost:

4.25 lb chicken $16.94
San Pedro block of cheese $10
2 drinkable yogurts $3
1 loaf  rustic white bread $4
1 loaf  whole wheat bread $5

Total= $38.94

Next week I hope we get there early enough to get a couple dozen eggs ($4/dozen) and some freshly made whole wheat linguini ($6/lb).

I’m so happy we found this place! At least between now and getting a deep freeze/placing a bulk order for meat we can hit the market up weekly for our meat, egg and cheese purchases. Now, I just need to find a produce solution. I happened to grab a copy of  Edible Dallas & Fort Worth while I was there, and lo and behold there is a whole article dedicated to CSAs and Co-ops (pg. 25, Winter 2009). Squeezepenny is highlighted, and was also recommended by a reader, so I think I’m going to start there.

So that’s where we stand as of now with our commitment to changing how we eat. What about you? Have you done anything? I have to say I am so excited and inspired to be hearing from so many of you about the changes you have been making and are starting to make. Thank you so much for sharing with me!

Kendall is about a week shy of 21 months old.

Here are some recent questions I’ve received:

Is the Full-Time Newborn Test Drive Set available at Sunshine Diapers the way to go?  I noticed you mentioned you started off with a similar set.

In my opinion, I really think this is a great way to get started.  For me, I only had to make this short term decision before actually having a baby.  Then I had 10 weeks to find out what system would work best for us moving on.  I was able to try out all types of diapers while still using the Kissaluvs Size 0 Rental from SunshineDiapers.com. In all my research, the only quasi negative thing I’ve heard said about KL0s is that they aren’t super absorbent, and that seems to be true.  However, that was never a problem with a newborn because you are changing them every 2-4 hours regardless.  Of course, there are other diapers you can start out with on a newborn, including prefolds.  But, again, I believe the KL0s were the most convenient option for me and I liked that with the rental program I could return them and get some of my $$ back after three months.  It made it feel like less of a jump off into the deep end of cloth diapering.

Will that be all I need to get started with cloth diapering once our baby is born?  Is there anything else I’m not thinking of, like fasteners or something?

If you choose to go with the KL0s, either from the rental program or by purchasing them outright, you will still need covers for them.  I recommend at least 6 in sizes that vary from newborn to small, so that you can have at least 3 in rotation at any time.  I used 2 newborn Proraps, 2 small Bummis Super Brites and 2 Thirsties (one XS, one small).  If I had it to do all over again. I would have skipped the Super Brites (they seemed to wick urine to the outside of the legs a lot) and replaced them with 2 additional small Thirsties.

If you choose to go the prefold route, you will also need the same number of covers, and some sort of fastener.  You could use old fashioned diaper pins, but I hear Snappis are the way to go.  I think you only need a couple of those.

What do you do when you have dirty diapers, just throw the diaper (full of poo) right into the washing machine – or do you use a diaper pail?  If you use a diaper pail, which one do you use?  How often do you wash diapers?  What does washing diapers entail?

If the baby is exclusively breastfed then, yes, you throw the diapers – poop and all- straight into a pail.  If the baby has started solids or is consuming any amount of formula, you need to remove the poop from the diaper before washing.  My favorite method is to line the diaper with a flushable liner. Then all you have to do is peel the liner out of the diaper and the poop comes with it.  Just flush it  and forget it.  I’ve also tried lining the diapers with fleece since poop tends to not stick to fleece, but Kendall had a bad reaction and developed a terrible rash that resembled a chemical burn.

My “pail” is a white basic step lid trashcan that I purchased at Target.  My pail liner is a Bummis XL bag.  I wash diapers about every second or third day.  My wash routine is this: I remove the liner from the pail, dump everything into the washer, throw the pail liner on top, start a cold rinse.  Then I add one scoop of Crunchy Clean detergent or Charlies Soap (I like to mix it up) and run a hot wash followed by a second cold rinse.  After that they either go into the dryer on medium or on the line out back.  Honestly, they haven’t been on the line all winter, but as soon as it warms up I hope to take advantage.  When they are done drying I throw them in the middle of Kendall’s floor and we sit down and stuff diapers together.  It’s a fun little routine

Do you recommend a specific brand of baby wipes or diaper rash cream/ointment?  What about detergent?

When I use cloth diapers, I like to use cloth wipes, too.  I bought several 6 packs of thin Circo baby washcloths from Target and they have worked like a charm.  I just spray one with a solution of water and a few drops of baby shampoo and wipe.  I have a squirt bottle for my diaper bag and do the same thing out and about.  We’ve used Aveeno and Burts Bees diaper cream with no incident.  As mentioned above, I like to alternate Charlies Soap, which we use on the rest of our laundry, and Crunchy Clean Diaper Detergent.

How do covers fit into the picture?  Are they necessary, or just something for decoration?

Covers are necessary for fitteds, like Kissaluvs, contours and prefolds.  You do not use them with all-in-one diapers or pocket diapers.

What do you do with a dirty cloth diaper when you’re out in public?  Someone recommended that we use disposable diapers for travel and public outings and cloth at home.

I have two Wahmies regular wet bags in rotation.  I keep one in my bag and throw the dirty diaper in there and zip it up.  Sometimes that diaper has poop in it.  I have NEVER had an issue with it stinking.  I just remember to take it out and empty it as soon as I get home.  Using cloth while out is just as easy as using a disposable, and it’s fun!  Practice your speech.  People will see you with them and have tons of questions.  It’s the perfect opportunity for some cloth diaper advocacy.  As far as long trips go, we successfully traveled for ten days over Thanksgiving with cloth diapers.  We knew we would be able to wash them where we were staying (my dad’s) so we brought them.  However, when we are going to be at a hotel or someplace with no access to a washer for more than 48 hours, we do use Nature Babycare disposables.

How much has the poop changed now that he’s started solids?

Well, it stinks, and it’s never the same.  You never know what color it’s going to be.  There is a bit of a transition phase that many people call peanut butter poo.  It’s just like you would imagine, the consistency of peanut butter.  This is when cloth diapering can get really frustrating.  Nobody wants to spend 5 minutes over a toilet scraping poop off a diaper. That is why, if it is at all possible, I highly recommend doing the flushable liners from the start.  Like, the minute after that kid eats his first mouth full of cereal, there had better be a large liner in that diaper.  Trust me.  Eventually the poop with thicken and harden.  Some days you’ll get ploppable little turdlets.  Sometimes it’s more of a cowpie, but most of the time it’s very easy to get it off of the diaper.

My husband is a SAHD and not exactly thrilled with cloth diapering.  Is it possible for him to just leave the dirty diapers for me to handle when I get home?

Sure.  My husband seems to do this a lot, although he swears it’s on accident.  In our case, I usually come into Kendall’s room hours after his morning diaper was changed to find it sitting on top of the pail, cold icky poop still inside.  Despite my, dare I call it, nagging at my husband about this annoyance, it’s really not that big of a deal.  Perhaps you can designate a seperate small Bummis bag or wet bag that your husband can place all the diapers and their contents in, and you can just take 10 minutes after you get home to flush them and get them into the pail.  If stink is an issue, I suggest sprinkling some pail freshener into the bag.  I recently tried some from the same lovely lady that makes Crunchy Clean called Poopy Powder, and I love it.  It really helps keep the smells at bay.

What does Kendall wear at night to keep from leaking?

Of all the cute diapers out there, I must admit that I love our Bum Genius 3.0  pocket diapers the most.  They are our go-to diaper, especially at night.  Since he’s in the diaper for up to 12 hours usually, though, it requires a little something extra to pump up the absorbency.  We have had tremendous luck with some hemp doublers from Artsy Fartsy Foo Foo. I bought 4 for less than $20.  I use one in combination with a regular sized BG insert at night and have never had a leak.  Never.

That’s all the time I have for tonight, but if I didn’t answer your question here or in my two previous posts:

Yes, I use cloth diapers.  No, I don’t wear Birkenstocks.

Cloth Diapering – the specifics

Please feel free to either ask below in the comments section or email me.  Also, fellow cloth diaper-ers, please feel free to chime in with tips and tricks of your own!

Kendall is 8 months, 3 weeks and 2 days old.

Sunshine Diapers

Modern Diapers

Baby Belle

Artsy Fartsy Foo Foo

Peppermint

Crunchy Clean

I think you all agree that these sponsors were super generous and helped us put together an awesome prize.  Please visit their sites in the future for your cloth diapering needs (and wants!).

Thank you to all who entered and to everyone who told their friends to enter. There were over 1,030 entries.  I had no idea there would be that many!  I wish I had more prizes to give away.  Maybe next time.

Finally, here are the results of the poll that I conducted.  When asked if they used cloth diapers, this is what the entrants had to say -

This is a post that’s been months in the making and I’m so freaking happy to finally be able to publish it. It all began after the two posts I made on our cloth diapering experience (here and here). I was amazed at the response and interest, and have used those posts many times since then to help explain to others why and how we cloth diaper. In all the conversations about cloth diapers that I have read and heard, the most common hurdle keeping people from making the switch and trying cloth isn’t the washing or the poop, it’s the cost. Even though you will most likely save a substantial amount of money over the long run, it is pretty steep to get started.

Thus, the idea for my first ever blog giveaway was born. I hit up vendors who I have personally worked with and know provide excellent cloth diapering products and services, and was overwhelmed by their generosity. The sentiment seems to be the same. We all love cloth diapering so much and think if more people could try it, it would certainly become a more popular choice among the modern parent. It was this desire for cloth diaper advocacy that lead the following companies to participate in the Baby Rabies Cloth Diaper Giveaway.

Our featured sponsor is Sunshine Diapers. This is the company that does the oh-so convenient Kissaluv newborn rental package! The rental package was our first experience with cloth diapers and it went so smoothly that I now recommend it to anyone who will listen, and have remained a loyal customer of Sunshine Diapers since. Rhea is amazing to work with. They are responsive and always available to answer any questions, and their website is very helpful.

Modern Diapers has such a wonderful selection of accessories and diapers. I especially LOVE this “Skin Deep” tattoo diaper cover! As soon as Kendall is ready for a size large (which won’t be too long!) this is the first thing I’m getting. Lillian is sweet as can be and very educated on the whole cloth diaper process. Plus, she is always running great sales!

Baby Belle has a wonderful Etsy store with everything from fun and funky fleece pants, which work great over fitted diapers in the place of a cover, to fabulous diapers and customizable covers. This girl can put just about anything on your baby’s bum! This site is the perfect example of how much fun you can really have with cloth diapers.

Artsy Fartsy Foo Foo is an Etsy seller, as well, and a truly talented seamstress. Not only has she made me some luxurious, yet still very functional nursing pads, but she’s also made Kendall a green and tan plaid KCK One pocket diaper with minky on the inside! It’s one of our favorites. She specializes in custom orders and always comes through with an awesome product.

Shortly after moving to the Dallas area, I was delighted to learn that there is a brick and mortar store not too far from me that sells cloth diapers and accessories! In fact, I bought all but one of our Bum Genius 3.0s from Peppermint, along with my wet bag and some other fun items. Currently, I’ve got my eye on a new carrier for Kendall. He’s a tad too big for the Moby now, so I’m going to have Marni help me pick something else out after we get our tax return. If you live in the Dallas area, I strongly recommend stopping by sometime and checking out what they have to offer.

Crunchy Clean is the most delightful thing to ever happen to my laundry room, which just so happens to also be home to the cat litter box. In fact, my husband has begged me not to use up all the Crunchy Clean diaper detergent (in Crisp and Candied) because he prefers this smell over that of the cat’s ass. I assured him I have no problem keeping a steady rotation of Crunchy Clean around and am already trying to figure out which scent I want next.

Now, for the part you are all waiting for… to find out more details and to ENTER TO WIN, click here!

Kendall is 7 months and 1 week old (and loves his cloth diapers!)

So I’m sure you all can gather that being nearly seven months old for his first Thanksgiving was PERFECT timing.  Not only had he been practicing eating solids for a good three weeks, but he also had 4 teeth to help with the gnashing.  (As I type this he has 5 and is working on his 6th…Oh Lord, will there ever be a break from this teething nightmare?!)  And he can thank his grandparents for feeding him the “good stuff”, like cinnamon rolls and bacon, and convincing me to leave behind my so very thoughtfully planned out all organic and homemade baby food diet for him, at least for the week we were visiting.  That’s right folks… I said HOMEMADE baby food!  I am SO that mom that I swore I would never be.  From a post dated July 21, 2007

Prior to the Rabies, I always associated slings with hippie parents – not that that’s a bad thing. I just always thought you had to be the type of mom who made her own organic baby food from the organic vegetables she grew in her own garden to wear one, and I have no time or desire for that shit. However, I found some adorable Hotslings in very stylish patterns, and I like the idea of baby as accessory (wonder how many people I pissed off with that statement).

Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!  I have to admit, though, that the Moby with Kendall’s chubby head and arms peaking out did make quite the fashion statement.  And it turns out I do have the time and desire to make my own baby food.  It’s ridiculously easy to do and it is so much cheaper than those jars.  I’ve found wholesomebabyfood.com to be an excellent resource and I’ve picked up a lot of great tips from the book The Super Baby Food Diet (Although I don’t know that it warrants buying it full price.  I found mine for $3 at our consignment store.)

We started out with simple mashed avocado and some breastmilk, or baby guacamole, and then advanced to smashed bananas, pureed sweet potatoes, peas, applesauce, carrots, and pears, and we’ve been adding Earth’s Best oatmeal cereal and plain organic yogurt on occasion.  The guac and bananas are the easiest since there is no real prep. involved.  Just remove from the peel and smoosh.  Now that he’s okay with the thicker consistency I don’t even bother diluting it  with breastmilk.  I may add just the tiniest bit of water if need be.

My method of making the food is to steam the veggies, then puree in the food processor, fill ice cube trays, freeze over night, then store on freezer bags.   I defrost a couple cubes at a time when I need them.  Easy peasy.

Why, you may ask, did we wait until six months? Mainly, it boiled down to these reasons:

1.  I dealt with a colicky baby for the first 10-12 weeks of his life and was happy with the peace that came with the digestive tract truce thereafter.  I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to go screwing around with his gut.

2.   Breastmilk did the boy good.  He was in the 92nd percentile for weight at his 6 month appointment and never had so much as a spoonful of cereal.

3.  Breastfeeding was working for him and me.  It was easy.  Why rush the mess and hassle of purees and spoons and bibs and dishes when you don’t need to?  Not to mention the poop!

4.  Seriously.  The poop.  Breastmilk poops are damn near close to pleasant.  Nary a smell to them, very easy to clean up, wash right off the old diapers.  Now that we are onto solids, I have a lovely transition period known as peanutbutter poop to look forward to.  Nothing a little flushable liner won’t fix, but still, not nearly as delightful as curdled breastmilk poops.

(Note for cloth diaper followers – this really hasn’t been that bad to deal with.  I mean, okay, it’s a little gross sometimes, but I deal.  It’s a short phase.  We put a flushable liner in each diaper.  He only poops like once every other day, so if it’s not soiled with poop, we just throw it in with the wash.  You can reuse a liner a couple times.  When he does poop, I can just peel the liner off and flush it and the peanutbutter poop right down the toilet.  Supposedly, this gets better once the poop gets more solid.  Then it just rolls right off the diaper into the toilet, no liner required.  At least, this is what I hear.)

Now, I so wish I could sit here and tell all of you that starting solids was the magical thing that made my baby sleep through the night.  I mean, that’s what everyone tells you from the beginning, isn’t it?  “Oh, he’s not sleeping through the night yet?  He needs cereal.  Feed him solids and he’ll sleep for you.”  Really?  REALLY?!!!  LIARS LIARS PANTS. ON. FIRE.  Not ONLY is he not sleeping through the night (yeah… that last post… that one where he slept for 7 hours… total, utter, complete fluke, nature’s way of screwing with my head, punishing me for God knows what, never happened again), but he has gone from waking 2 times a night to every 2 to 3 hours!  Who knows why.  Could be the sixth tooth he’s working on.  Could be a growth spurt.  Could be some sort of rebellion or clingyness.  I don’t freaking know because, once again, I can’t find the damn Baby Manual that SURELY must have shot out of my vagina sometime between the baby and the placenta.

Kendall is 7 months old… and awake… again

Since the pocket diapers we are now using don’t work all that well on tiny newborn sized bottoms, we started out with rental program for some itty bitty cloth diapers from SunshineDiapers.com.  Check it out here. These are called fitted diapers and need to have covers over them.  We got 24 diapers from the program (enough to make it two days since newborns typically go through about 10 to 12 diapers a day), and purchased 6 covers in NB, XS and Small on our own (2 Proraps NB, 2 Bummis Super Brites and 2 Thirsties – Thirsties were our favorites, but they all worked fine for us).  We only needed a few covers to fit at a time since you can reuse a cover as long as it’s not soiled with poop.  We typically had three in rotation at a time.  We would let two air out while using one, and then wash a couple with each load.  At the end of the program, we returned the 24 fitted diapers for a store credit of $120 and kept the covers.

People may ask why a rental program when you can buy these newborn sized diapers cheap used on forums like www.diaperswappers.com and keep them for future kiddos?  To them I just say that while that is a fabulous idea, I didn’t know how much I would end up liking these particular diapers and didn’t want to have to deal with finding them used (because  you kind of have to stalk that website, and it becomes addicting) and then possibly have to list them for sale again.  Plus, I have no idea when the next kid is coming, and I’m too fickle.  I’ll probably like something better by then.  The rental program is great because half of my diapers were brand new, and Rhea at Sunshine is great with communicating with you on how to take care of them and if anything were wrong with any of them I could return it and get a different one.  You don’t get that sort of guarantee when buying used from someone.  That being said, diaperswappers.com is a FABULOUS place to find excellent deals on cloth diapers.  You have to be a little patient and do your research, but if you want to go that route, more power to you!

Kendall, the big boy that he is, was out of these by the time he was 10 weeks old.  So we moved on to the next phase of diapers that we plan to get us all the way through potty training (and, by the way, a lot of parents of toddlers in cloth diapers say their kids potty train much earlier because, you know, they can FEEL the pee since cloth doesn’t have all those super absorbent chemicals, and they don’t like sitting in it).

I planned to mainly use Bum Genius 3.0 pocket diapers because of ease of use and excellent reviews.  These, once stuffed with a super absorbent natural insert, are very close to disposables in the way they go on.  There is no cover to put on over them.  The Velcro tabs make it a snap to get them on squirming babies, and they are so soft on the inside!  These are also one size diapers, meaning, in theory, they can get your from not quite newborn anymore, all the way through potty training.  You just size the diaper in the front by using the snaps.  So, even though they are about $18 a piece, they are going to last you a long time.  Currently, I have 13 of these diapers, and they are my husband’s absolute favorite.

In addition to the BG 3.0s, I have a few other pocket diapers that I thought I should try out.  I have one Baby Kanga that I am sort of happy with.  It’s an awesome bright orange, and the zipper pocket for the insert is nice since and means that I don’t have to come in contact with any poop when I take out the insert.  However, I find it wicks (meaning pee leaks through) the zipper sometimes    I don’t think I will be buying any more. I also have two Happy Heinys and I like them just about as much as my BG 3.0s (I Love the the cow print!).   These are all one size pocket diapers, meaning they will fit throughout the time the child is in diapers, and they use an insert to absorb messes.

I also have two Swaddlebees Organic Velour fitteds.  These are just like the Kissaluvs in that they need a cover, but they are one size fits most (as you can see, I really don’t want to buy diapers that will only fit my rapidly growing chunk for a few months) and I also find them to be a little trimmer than the pocket diapers.  In a moment of weakness I got the sweetest, cutest minky cover for them from Blueberrydiapers.com.  Definitely a splurge and certainly not a CD necessity, but my child is only this small and unable to talk back and tell me to, “take this ridiculous thing off of me,” for so long.

As a poster mentioned on my previous entry, one of the best things about cloth diapers is they are CUTE!!  Seriously.  You can get really carried away with all the super cool options.  I’m currently coveting this Astrokids diaper cover and this bad ass tattoo cover.  How cute are those?!  And let me say it is a GOOD thing Kendall is not a girl because the cuteness factor for cloth diapers for girls multiplies by about ten thousand.  Tell me this is not one of the most stylish little shit collectors you have ever seen?!

Finally, to finish off my “stash” we have one Bum Genius Organic All in One, One Size. This is the ultimate diaper if you are looking for convenience.  No inserts to remove or stuff.  Works just like a disposable.  Fabulous diaper.  Great for the timid babysitter, day care center, or hard to convince daddy.  I’m hoping to add a few more of these to our collection eventually.  They are also a little trimmer fitting, making it a tad easier to fit those jeans over junior’s fluffy behind. (Speaking of that, we’ve found that the Karate Pants by American Apparel are awesome for fluffy butts and we keep a couple pair on a steady rotation).

So now on to the “process”, as in… how do you deal with the poop?  Okay.  Please keep in mind that my lovely little boy is still exclusively breastfeeding, and one of the plus sides to sore nipples and a third round of mastitis (yeah… that’s what I dealt with last weekend… fun times!) is not so stinky poop that is still runny and easy to wash off diapers.  Again, I’m just speaking of my experience so far, and I’ll try to update you as we move through the phases of poop.  I hear peanut butter is the next consistency we get to look forward to…. joy.

As of now it goes like this – Kendall wets/craps a diaper, I remove it, wipe up with a wet wash cloth, take out the insert if it’s a pocket diaper and throw everything into my flip top plastic trashcan (or into my small wetbag if we are out and about), lined with a PUL Bummis Wetbag (this is known as a dry pail system since I’m not keeping any water in there for the diapers to soak in between washes).  It then stays there 1 to 2 days until I do a load of diaper laundry.  Then I dump everything out of the bag (and toss the bag on top) into the washer.  I start out with a cold rinse.  This, I’m told, mimics what the old fashioned wet pail used to do by getting most of the “solids” off.  This is followed by a hot wash and one tablespoon of Charlie’s Soap (an eco friendly detergent, great for cloth diapers). Then I do a final cold wash.  Depending on the weather and my time constraints, diapers (and wipes and inserts and covers and bag) either go in the dryer or on the retractable line to dry.  The final step is to re-stuff the pocket diapers and throw them back in his diaper drawer.  Reading back through that, I realize that that comes off as a lot of steps, and perhaps even a little overwhelming to the cloth diaper virgin.  I ASSURE you that it is really a very easy process.  If I, someone who detests doing laundry and would just as soon buy a new pack of underwear than wash clothes, can keep up with this, then so can you.

A quick note about getting partners on board – If your partner says they don’t want to deal with the poop and can’t possibly help out with doing the laundry, perhaps make a deal.  One of you can throw the dirty diapers in and take care of all the washes if the other agrees to stuff them and put them away.  Surely one of you will be less squeamish when it comes to poopy diapers and can handle the simple task of hauling a bag of diapers into the laundry room.  Because, honestly ladies and gents, poop is part of being a parent.  It becomes about as normal a substance to you as hair product once was.  And I swear to you that even if you never touch a cloth diaper and change all your disposables with rubber gloves on, you will still, many times throughout your child’s early life, get poop on you.  I will put money on it.

Also, I realize that I am extremely fortunate to have the time at home to be able to take care of the diapers all on my own.   I know that many of you are working and or single parents.  But I really, really, do not think that the laundry and up-keep of the diapers takes up that much time in my day.  Think of it this way, you will never have to run to the grocery store in the middle of the night for a pack of diapers because you miscalculated and ran out.  That’s some saved time right there…  and saved sleep.

Does the diaper pail stink?  No.  Not in my experience.  At least not so far (because, keep in mind, his poop doesn’t really stink at this stage).  However, I keep meaning to try some of this Diaper Dust because I hear that not only can it prevent any diaper stink from seeping out of the pail, but it can also make your diapers smell downright heavenly.  I think I will definitely give some a shot once we move on to the more smelly diapering phase (when solid foods = more solid and stinky poops).  However, a big difference with this phase is you are actually supposed to be disposing of the poop in the toilet before throwing it into the pail.  I hear that during the peanut butter poop stage this can be a little difficult and could require some… ummm… scraping?  Or you could use flushable liners that rest between your kid’s ass and the diaper, allowing you to peel off the poop and flush it.  Another option is to attach a diaper sprayer to your toilet.  Either way you roll, it sure beats the pants off of swishing diapers around in a dirty toilet bowl.

Here’s my opinion on a couple things that I thought would be GREAT (and bought anyway against the advice of fellow cloth diaper users) for cloth diapers that turned out to suck:

1. The Diaper Champ is a big loser when it comes to cloth.  I don’t know what it is, but my husband HAD to have the Champ.  I think it’s the name alone that got him.  Like the diaper receptacle was going to hit some sort of homerun.  So we registered for it, got it, used it, regretted it a month later.  It is a constant battle to get the diapers in there and get the damn thing to turn.  Then half the time it gets stuck and you have to open it up and rescue the diapers from its inners (now that’s a guaranteed way to get shit on you).  Save yourself some $$ and just get a good old fashioned plastic trash can with a step open lid and some sort of washable bag to put inside of it.

2. A wipes warmer.  Of course, I knew these were dumb when it came to disposable wipes, but I told myself that having one of these would make using cloth wipes much easier since I could keep them pre-wettened and folded to where they would “pop-up” just like disposable wipes.  Why on earth I thought this would make parenthood so much easier, I have no idea.  Ahhh… I was so cute when I didn’t know anything.  Turns out that pre-wetting and folding the cloths just so was a huge time suck, and keeping something like this plugged in 24-7 just didn’t really gel with the whole eco-friendly reason for cloth diapering.

That brings me to cloth wipes.  They just make sense if you are going to cloth diaper because you can just throw them in the same pail with the dirty diapers instead of having to find a trashcan to toss them in.  Plus, if you are doing cloth diapers for eco reasons or money saving reasons, they are the perfect fit. We have 24 cloth wipes, which are really just the thin Circo washcloths, sold in packs of 6 for $4 at Target. I also have an inexpensive spray bottle that I keep at the changing station (and a small squirt bottle for my diaper bag) that I keep water and a few drops of baby shampoo in (currently, I’m loving Burt’s Bees). I wet the wash cloth and use it to clean up. It rarely takes me more than one to get the job done and Kendall has never had a bad reaction to them, unlike some disposable wipes soaked in chemicals. I wash these right along with the diapers and they’ve held up really well.

::Looks up:: Good Lord! If you’re still with me, well, kudos to you. That’s one hell of a post, and I apologize for the length and the time it’s taken me to get it up there, but there is so much I’ve learned about cloth diapers (and am still learning) and I realize that it can be SO overwhelming when you first start looking at options. Hopefully, as word starts to make its way around, this will become a more mainstream option in the future and you won’t have to rely on long winded and a tad disorganized blogs such as this to get some information.

I will end this by saying that yes, while cloth diapers have come a long way, they do take more work than disposables. Yes, it’s a commitment and a lifestyle choice. But isn’t it worth it to at least investigate (you could always do a trial package)? The money savings or the eco impact alone is amazing, but add those two together, plus the fact that you have more control over what your kid is sitting in all day and you have a pretty obvious winner in my book.

Oh, and for those of you wondering what my husband thinks, he says, “I think they are the best thing we’ve done for Kendall. I love them!” But that only makes sense since cloth diapers and breastfeeding are two of the very few things that bring my husband’s penny pinching side and his desire to be organic and all natural together.

A list of some cloth diapering links to check out (some I’ve already referenced in the last two posts)

http://www.sunshinediapers.com/
http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/
http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/
http://www.diaperswappers.com/
http://www.diaperpin.com/
http://www.thenest.com/ (check out the Eco-Friendly Family community board)
http://www.etsy.com/
http://www.blueberrydiapers.com/
http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/
http://www.hippy.etsy.com/
http://www.moderndiapers.com/
http://www.artsyfartsyfoofoo.etsy.com/
http://www.coolspools.etsy.com/
http://www.babybelle.etsy.com/
http://www.crunchyclean.etsy.com/

4 months 4 days old

The first thing we heard from a lot of people, especially our parent’s generation, when we said we planned to cloth diaper was, “WHY???” ::insert confused, you must have three heads look here::  Because they HAD  to cloth diaper, and it wasn’t pretty.  Our parents were, well, they were butt ass broke when they had us and did not have the luxury of using the fancy schmancy disposables.  I have memories of my mom swishing dirty cloth pre-fold diapers (the kind most people use for burp cloths these days) around a toilet bowl to wash off the poop.  She has vivid memories, too.  I think that’s mainly why she was so confused as to why we would CHOOSE to do this.  I had to explain to her that while people still use pre-folds, there are so many more options out there.  And with the advancement of more efficient washing machines, wet pails and washing in the toilet are a thing of the past.

We chose to cloth diaper for a few reasons:

1.  The environmental impact.  I’m not really interested in getting into a debate over whether the water used to wash them is worse than the amount of time it would take cloth diapers to degrade in a landfill.  Here’s what I know/believe to be true – it can take up to 500 years for a diaper to degrade in a landfill,  I end up doing approx. three extra loads of laundry a week to wash diapers.  In my opinion, I’d rather use the extra water and try to make up for it in other ways by saving water elsewhere than send thousands of diapers to the landfill every year.

According to my own calculations, based on our personal diaper usage, we would use approx. 3,130 diapers the first year.  That’s based on 12 diapers a day the first month, 10 a day for month two and three and 8 a day for the remaining 9 months out of the year.  The following years we would use 2,880 each year.  I would also venture to guess that each diaper weighs close to half a pound when full  (on average), so that’s 1,565 lbs. of waste the first year and 1,440 lbs. each additional year we are responsible for that is not recyclable.  From what I’ve read and heard, it takes most boys in disposables about three years to potty train, so by the end of it, we’ve sent 8,892 diapers to the landfill, weighing in at 4,446 lbs.  (Please allow me to interject here that this is all very fuzzy math and I’m not claiming to be precise by any means… more of an approximation).  That is almost two and a half tons!!  Is that right?  Hold on… I have to go back and do the math again because, admittedly, this is the first time I’ve added this up and that just seems crazy…….  Yup… it adds up.  Holy shit!

We would be sending the equivalent of a baby blue whale calf to the landfill! And that’s just for one kid.  And contrary to the popular belief of many of those attending the RNC this week, we DO believe in global warming.  I guess this will be our way of making up to Mother Nature for the assholes chanting, “DRILL BABY DRILL” (excuse me while I gag a little).  Now, please don’t believe that you have to be a hyper ec0-friendly tree hugger to embrace cloth diapers.  We try our best to do our part, but we aren’t perfect by any means.  Sometimes lights stay on a little too long, sometimes not everything gets recycled, we couldn’t splurge on the non VOC paint for the new house, and I still drive a gas guzzling SUV that we can’t justify replacing right now (an impulse buy three years ago before I was hip to the save the earth movement), but using cloth diapers is an easy lifestyle choice for us, and something we can feel good about while working on improving on all those other little and big things.

Oh, and let me say that I personally believe that I would be replacing at least one of those loads of laundry with a load of baby clothes if we did use disposable diapers because every freaking time Kendall is in a disposable he has a crazy poop explosion that somehow manages to project shit up his back and damn near on his shoulders while simultaneously avoiding a large spot on his lower back.  Weird… weird and gross.  I have NEVER had a poop blowout in a cloth diaper, and can usually make it through a whole day in one outfit (unless it’s otherwise spit up on).

2. No yucky chemicals.  Seriously.  Diaper rash has to SUCK.  After my run in with contact dermatitis from the evil Always pads, I can’t imagine how awful a constant case of diaper rash must be.  And I had the coordination and physical development to be able to scratch my own ass.  Ugh.  Sitting around in a diaper, full of chemicals that are making you break out, screaming at the top of your lungs in baby talk, trying to make people understand that “WhaAAAhahaaaAAAA!!” really means, “Somebody stick a chopstick down my diaper and go.to.town!” has got to be so infuriating.  Unfortunately, we can’t keep Kendall in cloth diapers all the time.  We travel about a week out of every month and haven’t quite mastered the art of travelling with a weeks worth of soiled diapers.  So for that week Kendall has to rock the disposables.  Without fail, each and every time, no matter the brand, they give him a diaper rash.  It kills me   I don’t have the time or the energy to do the research for you and link you up (although I had the best of intentions when starting this post), but I do encourage you to do some research of your own on what chemicals are being used in those freakishly absorbent disposables and some of the side effects that are now being linked to them.

3.  The money savings.  Though this isn’t as substantial as it could be right now since we are using a more expensive brand/type of cloth diapers, I anticipate it will grow as we either use the diapers on future children or sell them and re-coup some of the cost. Here is a breakdown of our costs so far:

Newborn size diaper rental package (read more about this in next entry) – $100 ($220 for rental – $120 store credit when returned)
Covers for NB size diapers – $60
19 One size diapers and two covers (for my two fitteds) that we will use now through potty training and hopefully on another child – approx. $400
24 cloth wipes (another way to save $$ and the earth!) – $16
2 small wetbags to put in diaperbag to carry soiled diapers back home – $30
1 large wetbag to put dirty diapers in between laundry loads – $18
1 step lid trashcan to hold wetbag and diapers – $13
1 spray bottle to hold solution of water and a few drops of baby shampoo to wet cloths for diaper cleanup- $1

Total – $638

(I will say that we do hope to add about 6 more diapers to our “stash” eventually, but we are getting by just fine on the diapers we have now)

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking.  That’s a lot of $$! But keep in mind that this is a one time expense that will last us for 2-3 years and hopefully through more than one child.  When we have Kendall in disposables, we find he does best in Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive.  Those run about $42 for a 180 pack of size 1s at Target and $42 for a 152 pack of size 2s and 3s.

(Okay, bear with me here… here comes some more math).  So for month one and two when he was in size ones we could have spent close to $154 on diapers for 3.7 packs of 180 (this is all based on my fuzzy math from earlier, using 371 diapers the first month and 300 diapers the second month).  He moved into size 2s month three, and I anticipate he would be a size two or three the rest of the year.  So that’s an anticipated cost of an additional $672 on diapers for the rest of the year (figuring we would use close to 16 cases of size 2s and 3s).  The total for disposable diapers alone for the first year would equal approx. $826.  That doesn’t even calculate in the cost of disposable wipes (and I’m not even going to go there because my brain just can’t compute this much information right now).  So, in the first year alone, we’ve saved $188, but we will be saving at least $800 each additional year we use the cloth diapers, for a potential total savings of approx. $1,800 for just Kendall!  That’s one hell of a way to start a college fund.

Certainly there are much cheaper routes for disposables than Pampers Swaddlers Sensitives, and I’m sure you can use coupons or buy in bulk online for more of a discount.  But to that effect, there are also much cheaper cloth diapering options.  I will talk about the types of diapers we use and the costs more in my next entry, but we chose one of the more expensive cloth diapers because we found them to be convenient and they fit our lifestyle.  However, as it turns out, people do still use those old fashioned pre-folds with covers and it’s a great, in-expensive option that has also come a long way since our parent’s generation used them.  First, the options for covers are endless.  No more nasty plastic pants.  Your kid’s butt could be the most stylish in the sandbox thanks to work at home moms who list their creations on websites like www.etsy.com.  Second, you don’t have to deal with those crazy scary diaper pins anymore!  Check out these Snappis! If you are really looking into cloth diapering to save major cash, this is the way to go.  For a great tutorial and wonderful pre-folds, go to www.greenmountaindiapers.com.

Okay, since this post is RIDICULOUSLY long, I’m breaking it up into two parts.  I will try to get the second half done this weekend where I will talk more specifics.  Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll try to include the response either in part two or in the comments section of this post or the next.

4 months and 2 days old!

Anyway, the whole point of this post of for me to tell you what crap has been good for us and what crap has been a waste of $$ (at least so far).

Moby Wrap – discussed in previous post – LOVE IT!! I can’t get anything done without this thing, including, many days, peeing. When Kendall was really small I would put him in facing my chest, all curled up in a little ball. He would nap in it for hours, and I solely credit it for making my flights back and forth from DC to Texas almost enjoyable with a one month old. Now that he’s bigger (and at 14 lbs at 10 weeks, he really is getting big) he can face forward, which he loves. It’s also great for babies who, like Kendall, need to be jiggled or bounced to calm down. It really saves your arms. I can pop him in there and bounce up and down, or better yet, sit on my yoga ball and bounce. And, as I mentioned before, this is now our main form of transportation. If I could wear this thing while driving….

Bouncy Seat – The first few weeks of Kendall’s life I thought this thing was a waste until we realized we just weren’t using it the right way. See, just turning on the “Soothing Vibrations” wasn’t nearly soothing enough for him. I credit Scott for realizing that manually bouncing the chair up and down hard enough to get a good jiggle going on was what it took to turn this hunk of junk into our saving grace. We now use it every time we need to get Kendall to fall asleep. Some nights we keep it in between us in bed and take turns bouncing it and some nights I keep it in the pack and play next to the bed, only an arms reach away from a good bounce.

Hooter Hider- I can breastfeed the monster on demand (and trust me, that is very often) whenever we are out without fearing I am flashing anyone or worrying about my rowdy boy ripping a blanket off of me.  I’ve nursed with it on the airplane (try being discreet in that close of quarters!) in many a restaurant and while carrying on a conversation with my grandfather. Nuff said.

Miracle Blanket – SO worth the $30+!  It is the ONLY blanket Kendall can’t bust out of from a swaddle.  Swaddling him is the only thing that gets him to fall asleep at night and KEEP him asleep.  Another bonus is it’s not made out of heavy and hot flannel.   That’s a huge plus in this Texas weather.  I was so desperate for one of these that when I found one at a local boutique I bought it immediately even though the only color they had in stock was PINK *gasp*!   Hey, pink, purple, glittery gold… I don’t care what color the thing is.  It works.  And he looks adorable in it with nothing but his big chubby head sticking out.   My sister was right on the money when she said he looks like a Glowworm in it.

Happiest Baby on the Block – Fabulous book, even better DVD (because what new parent has time to read a book?).  I only wish I would have read/watched it all BEFORE the baby came.  Remember how I went to the ER with Kendall early in the morning on Mother’s Day?  I came home with a scrip for baby Zantac for acid reflux that Kendall doesn’t even have.  If we had read about the 5 S’s before bringing Kendall home, I’m sure that trip could have been avoided.  In hindsight, it seems like his problem was that he was overtired and didn’t know how to put himself to sleep, and we, like the idiot new parents we were, thought if exhaustion was the problem he would have just passed out already.  If you are expecting or know anyone who is – get yourself or them this book or DVD.  Seriously.   (Oh, and since I just watched the DVD for the first time last week I was so happy to learn that Dr. Karp recommends JIGGLING to get a baby to go to sleep!  Yayayayayay!  We are not raising a freak!  All babies like to be jiggled!)

Cloth diapers – Yup.  Call us what you will… earth muffins, tree huggers, crazy hippies…. it’s all very funny to me that those are the images associated with cloth diapering when I really don’t think we are any of those things (not that they are bad!).  I can do a whole new entry on these alone, so I won’t go into too much detail other than to tell you that we have used cloth diapers since Kendall was about a week old and we love them.  They aren’t the old fashioned kind – no pins involved for us.  They are really easy to use and have saved us a ton of money.  We’ve had to use disposables while we traveled and I will say that I hate how often they blowout (meaning Kendall somehow gets shit on his shoulders after an explosive poop) and the bad rash they give Kendall.  The cloth diapers rarely ever give him a rash and are actually pretty easy to maintain.

Blow drier/ Vacuum/ White noise machine – When your kid is screaming their head off do yourself a favor and go turn on every loud appliance in your house.  If you are as lucky as me, it will send them into a trance- like state 75% of the time.  It’s a freakish phenomenon.

Now for the bad crap-

Baby sling for the bath – used it maybe twice when Kendall was really small.  Now he either gets in the shower with Scott or in the bath with me.  And now that we have a nice deep sink in the kitchen, I imagine he will get many a bath in there.

Baby robes – So cute.  So impractical.  If I’m going to fight with my kid to get him dressed after a bath, I’m going to do it once and just put him in his clothes the first time.

Diaper Champ – I think this would be good crap if we didn’t cloth diaper.  The cloth diapers are just too big to get through the hole without a struggle.  We are still using it, but I need to find an alternative.  I shouldn’t have to beat the crap out of the diaper receptacle 12 times a day.  I have other things I should be beating the crap out of (like the 10 BILLION flies that have taken up residence in our new home).

That damn infant seat!! – Okay, this is actually a split decision because when he was much younger and would pass out in it, it was great to be able to just take him out of the car in it and snap it into the stroller frame, but I thought that phase would last much longer than it has.  If I would have known that a) Kendall would detest the thing and scream every minute that he is in it by 8 weeks and that b) Kendall would be a beast and most likely outgrow the thing in 4 months (and that he’s already too freaking heavy to hold in it) I wouldn’t have spent all the money on it and would have opted to go straight into the big carseat.

Now, obviously we have a lot more crap than what is listed above, but those are what stick out in my mind as good or bad.  I’ll let you know if anything changes.

When I left the hospital, the only piece of baby crapola the nurses made sure I knew how to use was the snot sucker out thingy.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have used that thing. But the majority of baby crapola is a pain in the ass to figure out, and do we get any instruction on it?  No.  We have to wait until the baby is screaming at level 10 and we are cussing at the harness because we can’t manage to get piece A and piece B lined up with piece C while simultaneously pressing down on buttons D, E and F.  So take my advice and learn how to use all this crap before you have a screaming newborn to deal with.  And I mean really learn, like practice while holding a bag of flour in one hand… or a cat or something.  Good luck with all your crap.

10 weeks 3 days old